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Following his election in 2005, strong controversy erupted when it was revealed by the magazine Der Spiegel that he had worked for the Stasi (the East German secret police) from 1985 to 1990.[4] Heilmann is the only official full-time Stasi employee to be elected MP to the Bundestag; although several other Die Linke politicians have been "unofficial" Stasi informants.[5]

Heilmann narrowly survived an impeachment by the party electorate following his untruthfulness about his Stasi career prior to becoming MP.[4]

Heilmann worked in the so-called "Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung Personenschutz" department of Stasi, a large and important department within the Stasi that was directly subordinated under Erich Mielke. The department was responsible for "personal security", but also took part in regular oppression activities and employed informants.[6] His employment record at Stasi states that Heilmann joined the Stasi because of political motivation and that he identified with his work and saw his future as a Stasi employee.[4] He left Stasi after it was dissolved following the fall of the communist regime.

The nomination of Lutz Heilmann as an MP by the Left Party has been strongly criticized by Hubertus Knabe, the director of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial. Knabe stated that Heilmann "has no business being in parliament", and said it is "unacceptable for the victims of the GDR communist regime to imagine that a man with such a past should serve in a parliament".[4]

He attended law school from 1992 to 2004, obtaining an undergraduate law degree (Diplom-Jurist) in 2004. During this time, he worked as a cashier at a filling station and as a carpet salesman.[1] After a period of being unemployed (2004–2005) he obtained a position as articled clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at the Landgericht (an intermediate court) in Lübeck[7] which he quit after being elected to the Bundestag. In November 2009, he returned to his job as a clerk.

In the Bundestag, his main activity has focused on transportation policy favoring the environment. He argued for an increase in the LKW-MAUT and against a proposed waiver of the motor vehicle tax for new cars.[10]

He has been involved in a fight within Die Linke, trying to get Lübeck party boss Ragnar Lüttke expelled from the party. Four-year-old photographs showing Lüttke at a party celebrating Joseph Stalin's birthday were obtained by a Flensburg newspaper in October 2008.[11][12]

On November 13, 2008, Heilmann pressed charges against Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. at the Landgericht Lübeck, obtaining a preliminary injunction which barred the internet address www.wikipedia.de (which is controlled by Wikimedia Deutschland) from linking to de.wikipedia.org (controlled by the U.S.-based Wikimedia Foundation) as long as certain information about him is included in the German Wikipedia in the article Lutz Heilmann. Heilmann also filed legal complaints against one Wikipedia editor and two other online writers.

According to Focus Online, Heilmann objected to claims that he had not completed his university degree, and that he had participated in a business venture involving pornography. He did however admit that he had served as "youth protection officer" for an internet sex shop run by a room mate.[11] The report also suggests that the Wikipedia article had been repeatedly altered in line with his claims by an anonymous user operating within the Bundestag building, but Heilmann denied having been involved in an edit war.[13]

In October 2008, some German newspapers reported that Heilmann was under investigation for having threatened a former room mate and that the committee on immunity of the Bundestag had lifted his immunity in the matter.[12] Heilmann denied this and had a counter statement published.[14] (According to taz charges were filed due to attempted coercion ("versuchte Nötigung").[11] Heilmann's counter statement fits to this explanation as he states that the committee on immunity of the Bundestag has dealt on October 17 with the matter in question related to short messages he sent to his former room mate.) This matter was reported in Heilmann's Wikipedia article.[15] This claim, as well as claims that he had withheld parts of his Stasi records, were also cited by Heilmann as reasons for his action against Wikimedia Deutschland.[16]

After some statements were removed from his German Wikipedia article and after major media coverage, Heilmann announced on November 16 that he would drop the legal proceedings against Wikimedia Deutschland, regretting that many uninvolved users of the encyclopedia had been affected.[17] He vowed to continue his pursuit of the Wikipedia editor who had originally added the allegedly offensive material.[18]

Heilmann later made a public statement on his actions against Wikipedia. "I didn't think it through and didn't anticipate the consequences," he admitted.[19] Wikimedia Germany reported that on the Saturday of the blocking it had received record donations of €16,000, compared to €3,000 on an average day.[20]